Defense rests in trial of Pulse gunman Omar Mateen's widow

By Gal Tziperman Lotan and Krista TorralvaOrlando Sentinel

Tuesday

Mar 27, 2018 at 5:37 PMMar 27, 2018 at 5:37 PM

ORLANDO — Noor Salman's defense rested its case Tuesday morning in the trial of Pulse gunman Omar Mateen's widow, after calling an expert who testified that Salman is "very vulnerable and at much higher risk than the average person" to give a false confession.

Prosecutors said they do not have any rebuttal witnesses to call. Salman's jury is expected to hear closing arguments Wednesday morning, and then will begin deliberating.

Dr. Bruce Frumkin, a South Florida-based forensic psychologist, testified that Salman tested in the lower 14th percentile for intelligence and is more submissive than 90 percent of people. Salman, he said, is "really extreme, particularly under pressure, in yielding to misleading information."

"She's certainly not a really bright person," Frumkin said.

Frumkin also testified that sleep deprivation can contribute to a person's susceptibility to giving a false confession. Salman was with law enforcement from 4:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the day of the massacre.

Frumkin's testimony was expected to be a key element of Salman's defense, which has sought to undermine statements Salman gave to the FBI in the hours after mass shooting at Pulse. In a series of transcribed interviews, an FBI agent testified, Salman eventually admitted knowing her husband was planning a massacre _ and helping him to case potential targets.

Her defense lawyers contend the confession was coerced.

During her opening statement, defense lawyer Linda Moreno called her client a "trusting, simple" person with a low IQ, who had no idea that "she would wake up a widow, and Omar Mateen a martyr for a cause that she didn't support."

Moreno described Mateen as a "monster," who controlled and deceived his wife before carrying out mass murder. Prosecutors, however, argue Salman knew what her husband was plotting and gave him a "green light" to carry out the massacre that claimed 49 lives at Pulse, a gay nightclub.

With both sides resting, testimony is now over in Salman's trial. Tuesday was the trial's 17th day.

After closing arguments Wednesday, jurors will begin deliberating whether Salman, 31, is guilty of obstruction of justice and of aiding and abetting her husband's provision of material support to the Islamic State, a foreign terror organization.

Salman opted against testifying in her own defense.

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